


Mother Earth's Meddling

by Palefire73



Series: Prisoners. The Chronicles of Loki and Erika [25]
Category: Gaia - Fandom, Loki - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Loki is freed of past darkness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 14:27:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18780115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palefire73/pseuds/Palefire73
Summary: Despite the fact that they were sent into the prison reality to be separated from everyone else, Loki and Erika's destiny continues to be shaped by those they left behind.





	Mother Earth's Meddling

Gaia reached out and smiled as the sleek black cat rubbed its face on the tips of her black scaly fingers and purred loudly. She stroked his soft luxurious coat, which was a mesmerising shade of midnight, much deeper than when he had first been created. He blinked his luminescent green eyes at her in appreciation of her attention and the mother of Thor blinked her own venomous yellow eyes back at him and chuckled.

 

“You are doing a very good job my friend, a very good job and the assassination of one of Odin’s lesser messenger birds was a nice touch, although I am quite sure the girl did not appreciate it.” She passed her hand along the cat’s back and he arched it gracefully before seeking her out with his face to rub at her again, the purrs rumbling deep within him. “It was a momentous task they undertook, imprisoning the Trickster; most of us would not care if we never saw him again, but it has meant my son has not had to lose his ‘brother’ irrevocably and that is what he so desired.” The cat sat down on her large wooden desk in front of her and leaned into her hand as she continued to pet it. They were in the room she chose to do business from; the walls and floor were formed of living black vines that seemed to writhe over each other and the furniture was in the form of huge heavily carved wooden Jotúnn items that added to the rather oppressive mood of the space. “I just hope that you are a strong enough vessel for all that you are removing from Loki. I can see that your task is almost complete from your appearance; I take it that there is hardly any more darkness and chaos left in him?”

 

The cat ceased purring and turned its head to look directly at his mistress – his creator – as she took a black cheroot from a box and lit it, blowing out a cloud of perfumed blue smoke which settled in the air around her.

 

“He is virtually rid of all that pained him, my Lady, as well as his propensity for unbridled curiosity and mischief.” He confirmed, “The environment he has been provided with is conducive to a healthy and satisfactory life, which has helped enormously with my work: every event that causes him happiness and contentment works more of the darkness loose and reduces the chances that he will experience intense pangs of wanderlust. I simply go to him and draw these things from him while he is asleep.”

“Good. All that matters to me is that Loki remains in that prison, but it was obvious from the start that he could not do so if nothing was done to alter the being at his very core! The Midgardian and the Synthetic Being may well have collaborated to re-wire Loki’s physical brain, but what we are doing is draining the desire to travel and the insatiable curiosity of the Chaos Spirit. We are healing his heart of all the poison and damage done over the years, something which is only fair to the girl who gave her life up to protect him.” Gaia reached out and gently scratched the cat underneath its chin, whereupon it started to purr loudly once more. “Finish your task, my feline depository and return to me when you are done.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The reaction of the wedding guests upon Erika’s acceptance of Loki’s proposal of marriage had been huge. Of course, Hans and Sara had encouraged Loki to do it in the first place, having witnessed how the couple had been acting towards each other on the eve of their wedding. Loki had been rather reluctant at first, insisting that he did not wish to intrude upon their special day, but the two of them were such a wonderful fun-loving couple and, it seemed, true romantics at heart. They had both accosted him upon his arrival that morning with the Bridal Ale, and then Sara had whisked Erika away to do girly things while Hans continued with his coaxing. He assured Loki that it could not be a more perfect setting and that he and his wife-to-be would be honoured if he would consider doing it. Thus it had taken all of ten minutes discussion as Hans and Loki off-loaded the Bridal Ale from the cart and took it through to the kitchen for the auburn-haired God to be persuaded.

 

Sara was with her girlfriends in her rooms so that she could not be seen by her groom, but when a serving boy arrived to whisper in her ear “He said yes”, she squealed with delight and handed him some pretty green and gold ribbons to take back to Hans. Despite the questioning of the women who were attending her preparation to be married, Sara refused to be drawn on her mysterious behaviour but could not prevent the happy smile which decorated her lips for the rest of the morning; now she had two reasons to be joyful today.

 

The fact that Erika had caught the bouquet had made things all the more perfect of course, no matter that it was caused by a certain level of intervention on Loki’s part, then there had been the held breaths as her decision was awaited by everyone bearing witness to what was happening. Once she had said yes, Hans and the other men who were his wedding brothers gathered round to clap Loki on the back and demonstrate their approval before standing back and awaiting the seal of the acceptance with a kiss. As the couple held each other and smiled happily to each other, the cheering had begun and everyone delighted in the new betrothal: what a way to round off a wedding! A sumptuous feast began and a cask of the Bridal Ale was opened much to everyone’s delight and after around an hour of eating and making merry, the whole throng of guests gathered together to parade Hans and Sara to their bedroom, where they bestowed gifts upon them to bring good fortune and fertility into their marriage as the couple walked among them to get to the door of the room. Once they had entered the bed chamber, Hans’ best man firmly closed the door behind them and a song about the joys of the marriage bed was sung as the guests returned to the feast to allow them to get on with the consummation in relative peace. Music struck up in the hall and now it was Loki and Erika who found themselves the centre of attention, with many guests demanding a dance with one or the other and ribbons being woven into their hair and flower garlands hung around their necks. The whole experience was dizzying and the two of them were carried along on a festival atmosphere, with much dancing, drinking and laughter to be had.

 

It was a spectacular evening and around two or three hours later, as Hans and Sara reappeared in the hall to much appreciative cheering, the feasting carried on well into the small hours of the next morning. Loki and Erika had absolutely no time to sit back and to fully digest what had happened between them and they, along with everyone else, fell asleep amongst each other on piles of luxurious furs as the warmth of the fires in the hearths, the wonderful food and the strong ale caused them to succumb to the embraces of the Sleep Maidens.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

It was a risky business being carried out tonight, but a risk worth taking all the same. The scene that confronted the black cat was one of dozens of people curled up on thick cosy furs all around the great hall where the wedding celebration had taken place. The fires in the hearths had dulled down to glowing embers, rendering everything with a rosy red glow in the otherwise dark space. The graceful feline carefully picked its way across outstretched legs and around the deeply asleep and oft-snoring guests as it homed in on its target. This would be the last time it would carry this task out and the job should then be complete: to divest Loki of his troubles and dampen down the enthusiasm of the Chaos Spirit buried deep inside him. Gaia was not Loki’s biggest admirer, not by a long shot, but she wanted her son, Thor, to be happy. That Loki’s execution had been stayed through imprisonment was something she had remained fairly indifferent about: she was of the earth itself and the actions of the Gods did not affect her directly which meant that she was assured to survive Ragnarök, yet the fact that it meant Thor did not have to go through the pain of losing Loki permanently was of comfort to her. No mother would willingly put her child through bereavement if it could be avoided and that was how the existence of this cat had come about; it was a necessary and final step in ensuring the success of the prison.

 

Gaia had reached down through the very bones of Asgard and across the void that lay between her and the other realms of the Nine. She had ventured further than she had ever gone before, almost breaking free of her bonds to the physical worlds permanently. It had been a precarious journey and one she would not care to repeat, but upon her discovery of the weakness in the design of Loki’s confinement she had felt that she had no option. She had to cross the river of Dreams and pay a visit to the realm of Chaos, the place of Loki’s creation. She was in search of the void in which he had once existed, the empty space he had left behind when he had crossed over to the known worlds upon seeing Odin and finding himself drawn to the corporeal being who was staring at him. When Loki had stepped willingly from the waters of Dream and entered the body of the virtually dead Jotúnn infant, his Spirit had left an echoing vacuum behind: thus was Surtr’s attention brought to the fact that one of his minions had deserted him. It was this emptiness that Gaia was searching for: the equal and opposite of his Spirit of Chaos, the perfect depository for everything in him that would cause him to discover and then escape his prison. There was only one problem: how to obtain it and bring it back to Asgard?

 

Even those of us who have limited scientific knowledge have perhaps heard of chemical bonds, and Gaia certainly knew exactly what they were. Being the Mother Earth herself, she was acutely aware of the energies that held her physical being together and how to control them: in this way she was able to move through the fabric of the realms in an instant, disappearing from one place and re-emerging in another almost instantaneously. If one looked very closely at where her feet ought to be – conveniently obscured by long garments most of the time – then one would find that she simply did not have them: she merged with the ground and was able to simply move across it, whether it was rock, dirt or even water. It was this intuition about what was essentially her own body and how to manipulate the atoms and elements that made it up that came to her aid when trying to come up with a solution to carrying Loki’s empty space out of Chaos and into the known worlds. The cat was not really a cat: it was a vessel Gaia had created out of necessity, and she was rather pleased with her efforts.

It was this vessel that was now sniffing at Loki’s sleeping face to ensure he really was in no danger of waking up; if Loki regained consciousness during the procedure, then there was a risk that everything already taken from him could return in an instant, which would be a complete disaster. Once the cat was satisfied Loki was firmly encased in the arms of the Sleep Maidens, it lay down next to his head and snuggled into his hair. Loki had just been assured of a loving relationship for the rest of his life and the very last blackened thorn of hatred had worked loose from his heart, leaving him whole again. The cat concentrated on this splinter of spite and fastened on to it with its mind, drawing it out of Loki gently so as not to disturb him. A thin plum of black light began to stream from Loki’s hair and the cat breathed it in deeply, its own coat of fur darkening even more if it were possible. The green of its eyes intensified one more shade and the cat blinked a few times, as if it were getting used to the new colour; this was the final step of Loki’s healing, the point at which the empty space he had left behind in Chaos was finally reunited with all of the mischief, darkness and curiosity once more. The beauty of it was that Gaia had made the vessel sentient so that she could communicate what she needed of it, and that Loki’s bitterness over his treatment as a physical being could be contained too was a virtual guarantee that all the efforts made in assuring him of a future would be worth it.

 

Loki’s hair burst into new life, attaining the vibrant fiery red of his new true self. The last traces of paleness left his skin, leaving him looking robust and healthy, his physique improved that last little bit, attaining a healthy and strong working stature, and underneath his eyelids his eyes finally cleared of all traces of green and became a twinkling – if still a little mischievous – pale crystal blue. He sighed in his sleep, as if the last weight had been removed from his shoulders, and the cat quickly jumped up as he turned over and snaked his arm over the woman he was sleeping next to. She had ribbons woven into her hair, as did he, and the cat realised that this was Erika, the one who had given up her future in order to be here with him. It slowly approached her, peering inquisitively at this strange one, detecting but being unable to identify the aura she gave off; it was as if she was many things, but not any particular one of them, unique, unnameable. The girl was none of his concern, however, and he retreated to the darkest recess in a corner of the hall, where he disappeared through a strange fissure before it closed up behind him.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Loki’s eyes snapped open as he thought he heard a crackle somewhere and he blinked a few times, wondering where he was. Dreams of fire and ice quickly receded as his brain tried to process his surroundings and then he smiled to himself as he realised where – and with whom – he was sleeping. He moved closer to the sleeping form of his betrothed and buried his face in her soft and sweetly fragranced curls, inhaling her scent and feeling lightness in his heart. Sleep quickly reclaimed him and now the dreams were of riding horses through grasslands with Erika by his side, working the apple presses to obtain the sweet liquid which would be turned into cider, and long nights spent making love with the most beautiful girl in Asgard.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Well done, my feline friend. You have accomplished everything I could have asked of you.” Gaia reached out and stroked the black cat one more time, but as her scaly fingers moved down its back, it stiffened into stone. Where there had been a handsome and perfectly alive cat sitting on her desk, there was now a statue of purest Jet, such as only could be mined from the deepest places in the Dwarven Mountains on Svartelheimr. Its emerald eyes stared out at the wall of living vines behind her and she smiled; what a perfect paperweight!

 

“Now,” she mused as she tapped her fingernails in a staccato on the wooden desk, “what to do about the girl…”

**Author's Note:**

> I want them to be happy, I truly do. But I just can't help myself...


End file.
